Since Joe Biden took office and implemented his Far Left open border policies, America has seen an unprecedented crisis unfold at our Northern and Southern Borders. In the past three years, there have been 8 million illegal crossings nationwide and over 6.7 million encounters at our Southern Border, turning every community into a border community. The American people have had enough; that is why, in 2022, they elected a Republican-controlled House to put an end to the Biden Border Crisis and restore border security.
For the past year, the House Committee on Homeland Security, under the leadership of Chairman Mark Green (R-TN), has conducted a rigorous investigation into “the causes, costs, and consequences of the unprecedented crisis at America’s borders.” They have concluded that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is “chiefly responsible for the chaos and devastation that has unfolded over the past three years” at America’s borders.
TOPLINE MESSAGING FOR THE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS OF DHS SECRETARY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS (Courtesy of the House Committee on Homeland Security Republicans):
President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas’ border crisis has turned every city and state in this country into a border city and border state.
The chaos unleashed by their policies has spread throughout the country, whether in the form of the fentanyl crisis, rising crime, or massive strain on schools and other community services.
The only conclusion to draw at this point is that this crisis was intentional. Before President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas took office, we did not have a border crisis. Ever since, however, we’ve suffered through the worst border crisis in American history.
As the leader of DHS, Secretary Mayorkas is responsible for this chaos and devastation. For three years, he has refused to enforce the laws passed by Congress, abused his authority as secretary, and misled Congress and the American people about the crisis and the role his actions and decisions have played in sparking and facilitating it.
His policies have actively encouraged record numbers of people to make the dangerous journey to our borders. Additionally, he has released millions of aliens into our communities in a flagrant abuse of immigration laws passed by Congress governing the parole, detention, and removal of inadmissible aliens.
Secretary Mayorkas’ failure to enforce and uphold the laws as written by Congress are not just matters of legal debate, however, but have led to unimaginable suffering and death for Americans and migrants alike, as detailed meticulously in the various reports released throughout the Committee’s months-long investigation in 2023.
His policies have pulled thousands of Border Patrol agents off the frontline mission of securing the border. As a result, the criminal cartels have taken advantage, smuggling record numbers of illegal aliens and deadly drugs across while agents are overwhelmed or distracted.
American families and communities are suffering as a result. More Americans are dying from fentanyl poisoning than ever as the drug is pushed across the Southwest border.
Hundreds of criminal illegal aliens are being released into our communities, and cities and states are spending billions of dollars not on their own citizens, but on illegal aliens arriving every day.
Secretary Mayorkas has had three years to either advocate changing course or resign in protest. He has done neither. This is clearly intentional and must be dealt with by Congress.
WHY IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS ARE APPROPRIATE & NECESSARY (Courtesy of the House Committee on Homeland Security Republicans):
Congress has a responsibility to hold executive branch officials accountable when they fail to uphold their oath of office, abuse their authority, and/or are dishonest with the American people. This is essential in a constitutional republic built upon the separation of powers.
In its 2023 ruling in United States v. Texas, the Supreme Court left the House of Representatives with little choice but to pursue impeachment articles against Secretary Mayorkas.
The 5-4 majority did not address the secretary’s policies and mandates on the merits, but simply ruled the states did not have standing to challenge them. Instead, the justices wrote that Congress has political tools available to push back on these policies.
The only one that makes sense in the current political environment is impeachment.
Secretary Mayorkas’ actions and decisions clearly meet the standard necessary for initiating impeachment proceedings.
The historical evidence is overwhelming that the Founding Fathers intended impeachment to be used to deal with the commission of indictable crimes and the abuse of power, corruption, and injury to the nation caused by public officials, among others.
At the Constitutional Convention, the Framers purposefully devised the impeachment power to include any offenses against the nation’s security committed by high officials.
Steven Bradbury, former principal deputy and acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice: There is “a settled understanding—beyond dispute” that impeachable offenses include both prosecutable crimes and “all manner of gross misconduct in office that does serious harm to the U.S. political system or the U.S. constitutional order. The actions, policies, and statements of Secretary Mayorkas easily meet that standard.”
Based on both long-standing precedent and recent use of the impeachment authority, House Republicans have firm grounds for beginning impeachment proceedings.
After President Nixon’s resignation in 1974, the House Judiciary Committee published a report on the constitutional grounds for impeachment. It included “exceeding the constitutional bounds of the powers of the office in derogation of the powers of another branch of government” and “behaving in a manner grossly incompatible with the proper functions and purpose of the office” as legitimate grounds for impeachment.
House Judiciary Democrats during the 2019 Trump impeachment: “High crimes and misdemeanors” in the Impeachment clause refer to “acts committed by public officials, using their power or privileges, that inflicted grave harm on our political order.”
There is certainly enough evidence in Secretary Mayorkas’ case based on the historical understanding and recent use of impeachment to move forward with these proceedings.
For nearly a year, the Committee has conducted a methodical, in-depth, five-phased investigation into the causes, costs, and consequences of the unprecedented crisis at America’s borders.
If Congress fails to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable for his actions, we will be just as guilty of neglecting our duty as the secretary has been.
Speculating about his successor or blaming others for the policies he has implemented are poor excuses for inaction. It is a basic tenet of congressional oversight that public officials who fail to follow the law and do their jobs should be held accountable. This is the right thing to do.
The American people deserve lawmakers who will follow through on their promises. If we fail to hold this secretary accountable, the American people will rightly be skeptical of trusting us again.
